Hour Ten of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 65
Total pages read so far: 426
Time spent reading: 40 minutes
Total time reading so far: 6 hours 5 minutes
Book read: Trappe, Evans, and Trappe: Field Guide to North American Truffles
Total number of books so far: 2.5+
Number of reviews posted: 2

Hour ten mini-challenge: I’m actually going to write this “letter to the author” using the book I just barely finished, since that one is still stuck in my head. Dewey’s instructions are:

stop reading and write a letter to the author of the book you’re currently reading, and post it in your blog

Simple enough, right? Well, sure, except that I’ve always been terrible with letters. Maybe that’s why I decided to take this one on, because I’m a masochist at heart. Anyway, here goes:

Dear Mr. James,

While it seems that you have quite a few mysteries already published in the Harpur & Iles series (so many it makes my head spin, in fact), Girls is the first I’ve read. I hate sounding like a fangirl, so I’ll just say that… oh, scrap it all. This is a fantastic book. The dialogue is twisty and mind-bending in wonderful ways. I never suspected I could enjoy a chapter-long internal monologue during a scene in which almost nothing happens, but I did. Laughed out loud, even. Several times. For what seems such a simple and, in places, light-hearted book, it has such a great deal to it. (”Richly-layered” is the phrase I used.)

Rest assured I’ll be seeking out more of your work, particularly in the Harpur & Iles series. Now, to go recover from sounding like such a batty fangirl….

Best,
Heather

As for the field guide I’m reading, let’s just say for now that I find it entertaining to read a book where everything gets a ‘desirability rating’ from inedible to insipid, palatable to tasty, unknown to delicious. I also find it pretty cool that you can tell that the various folks who photographed the truffles they found had to use whatever was on hand to give you an idea of size: rulers, coins, their hands, and even pocket knives.

Anyway, I think I’ll do one last update when I finish this book (probably sometime in the next hour), and then I’ll call it quits so I can get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow. This has been great fun, though, and I hope Dewey does it again next year!

FINAL UPDATE EDIT:

Okay, since it actually took me very little time to finish the book (25 minutes?) I’ll put my final update here.

Pages read: 50
Total pages read so far: 475 (approx)
Time spent reading: 25 minutes
Total time reading so far: 6 hours 30 minutes (approx)
Latest book read: Trappe, Evans, and Trappe: Field Guide to North American Truffles
Total books read today: 3
Number of reviews posted: 2

The truffle field guide is very cool, and I plan to review it Monday.

I want to thank Dewey for organizing this readathon. I had a ton of fun, made a good dent in my TBR pile, and look forward to perusing everyone else’s log of the events come Monday when I get some good computer time again. I particularly want to give a cheer to everyone still reading! Go! You can make it! Whooooooo!

Hour Nine of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 19
Total pages read so far: 381
Time spent reading: 15 minutes
Total time so far: 5 hours 25 minutes
Book read: Trappe, Evans, and Trappe: Field Guide to North American Truffles
Total number of books so far: 2+
Total number of reviews so far: 2

New book review up, of Bill James’ Girls.

I suppose once again I can partially count my meal as being toward something book-related, since we made a recipe out of that same review cookbook, The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook. This time it was a white bean and tuna “spread” (except we used it as sandwich filling); it was quite good. In entertaining news, one or more kitchen herbs are apparently, shall we say, exciting, to one of our cats (the same one we can’t give catnip to because it over-excites him). I suspect the thyme. He’s very cute, though; he sniffed my husband’s fingers after my husband snipped herbs, and then went batty attacking my chair at the dinner table.

Bread is sliced and bagged for taking to our friends’ tomorrow, and we’re savoring an after-dinner cup of Moroccan mint green tea with our respective all-day projects. Since I’m having so much fun with the actual reading and I won’t be home tomorrow, I’ll probably do some poking around on everyone’s blogs Monday to see what all the other readers were up to.

In the meantime, just for something completely different from my last two books, I’m starting in on the Field Guide to North American Truffles!

Hour Six of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 30
Total pages read so far: 296
Time spent reading: 45 minutes
Total time so far: 4 hours
Book read: Bill James, Girls, uncorrected proof
Total number of books so far: 1.5+

The bread has come out of the oven and it looks absolutely delightful—a deep rusty reddish brown, with that lovely hollow thump that perfectly-done bread gets. It’s incredibly difficult to put off having any until tomorrow!

I’m about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through my current book, and while it remains every bit as fascinating and entertaining, it has also revealed itself to be very richly-layered. It’s a fascinating look at social class and standing, wealth, education, family, appearances, and more.

Hour Seven (and then some) of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 66
Total pages read so far: 362
Time spent reading: 70 minutes
Total time so far: 5 hours 10 minutes
Book read: Bill James, Girls, uncorrected proof
Total number of books so far: 2

God, though, the influence of girls!

Done with book number two, although the cats made it quite clear about 20 minutes ago that it was time for their dinner. I’ll be back after feeding them to write a review, comment, check out how the readathon is going over at Dewey’s blog, have dinner, start the next book, etc., in who-knows-what order.

*pats full belly* I might have taken an hour off, but in a sense it was still to do with books. Lunch was a breakfast burrito recipe from a review cookbook (the Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook) that I’m working on, and the bread we’re making is from a cookbook we already reviewed (Whole Grain Breads). The burritos were awesome, by the way. Now I have my second cup of coffee of the day and I’m ready to dig in for the afternoon.

Hour Five of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 43
Total pages read so far: 266
Time spent reading: 45 minutes
Total time so far: 3 hours 15 minutes
Book read: Bill James, Girls, uncorrected proof
Total number of books so far: 1.5+

Manse’s mother used to tell him that ‘a word is enough to the wise’, a well-known saying from Latin or her uncle Les who worked in London for the BBC or W.H. Smith.

I just spent an entire chapter inside the head of a sort-of British gangster who wants to think he has class, as he interior monologued in most outrageous and hysterical fashion about everything from Pre-Raphaelite paintings to the morality of a morning shag in the living room with the curtains open. I couldn’t stop laughing the whole way through. Rarely have I enjoyed a piece of writing in which so little happened and yet I was so wrapped up and entertained.

The bread is now in the oven and baking, and oh it looks lovely! It’s made with whole wheat flour, but a white wheat strain, which is less prone to bitterness and strong flavor than the more common red wheat strain. It also has a certain amount of a “harvest blend” of grains and seeds in it. Since we used Reinhart’s techniques, though, it’s coming out fluffy, airy, and wonderful!

Hour Two of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 45
Total pages read so far: 183
Time spent reading: 55 minutes
Total time so far: 1 hour 40 minutes
Book read: Bill James, Girls, uncorrected proof
Total number of books so far: 1+

He often considered tone as far as guns were concerned. Schools and firearms should be kept very separate, unless, of course, matters became really uneducational.

This book is about as different in tone as possible from the last one! British gangsters and dealers; prostitution; NSFW language—and yet, in a way, it’s really all about family. The title is Girls of course, which at first you think is strictly a reference to the prostitution going on, but it doesn’t take long to notice the impressive influence that young daughters have on their supposedly powerful and influential parents, on both sides of the law.

Hour Three of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 40
Total pages read so far: 223
Time spent reading: 50 minutes
Total time so far: 2 hours 30 minutes
Book read: Bill James, Girls, uncorrected proof
Total number of books so far: 1+

I keep finding myself smiling or grinning while I read this one. The dialogue is quirky, witty and entertaining, among adults and children alike. And there are plots afoot that you can just tell will go badly, although you’ve no idea in which of several ways. So far this is a terribly fun book.

I’m off to make bread and have lunch, so it might be as much as an hour before I’m back. Have fun all!

Hour One of Dewey’s readathon:

Pages read: 138
Total pages read so far: 138
Time spent reading: 45 minutes
Total time so far: 45 minutes
Books read: Warren Dotz, Light of India, a conflagration of Indian matchbox art
Total number of books so far: 1

Although naive, perhaps, or even primitive by some standards, vintage Indian matchbox labels captivate with their unselfconscious charm, bold use of color, and often sly sense of humor. Today, they are valued as much for their culturally revealing subject matter as for their staggering variety and visual appeal and finally are taking their rightful place in India’s rich graphic design tradition.

You can read my full review here.

Well, this is it. At 9 am my time Dewey’s 24-hour readathon begins. That’s in a half hour as I type this. I’ll try to participate for about half of that time, since I need a good night’s sleep before tomorrow.

As it happens, this is a great day for this as far as I’m concerned. My husband’s spending the day buried in his own marathon of campaign-building for a new roleplaying game that starts tomorrow. We did the grocery shopping last night and made cookies last night to take to the game (chocolate chip oatmeal!). Later I’ll take a break to finish up some bread baking (to take to the game, too).

I have my coffee in-hand (very important prerequisite). I don’t have a set agenda for what I’ll read, but here’s what I’m thinking so far. Obviously all of my reads will come from this list, since those are the books I’m a little behind on right now. I may focus on some of the shorter books in an effort to feel a sense of accomplishment by shortening that list, but I will probably also alternate that with reading sections of The Gift of Rain, which is a beautiful book but a bit of a slow read for me. Clearly I won’t be cruising through the cookbooks since that requires more cooking than reading!

Just yesterday and the day before I happened to get beta keys to two really nifty games, so I admit I’m having a little difficulty resisting the urge to play those at all today. (Speaking of which, I just had to run off and reset my skill training in Eve Online to take me through the next two days.) But I’m going to have so much fun reading I expect that won’t last long.

First on the agenda: Light of India, by Warren Dotz, described as “a conflagration of Indian matchbox art.” You could call that cheating since it’s more art than words, but I call that getting a gentle start to the day. Now to go check my Warcraft auctions as a way to keep myself busy until the start time in 15 minutes…

Just a reminder that Dewey’s 24-hour readathon is this Saturday the 20th! You don’t have to be available for all 24 hours to participate; part of the day is fine. It starts at 9 am Eastern time in the US (my time zone); I’ll probably be a bit late to the party so I can get groceries done. Here’s some of the most important info from that post for readers:

People who sign up to be readers are committing to reading books, posting updates in their blogs, and if they need breaks, visiting the blogs of other readers and encouraging them. The most hardcore among us will stay up the entire 24 hours and do nothing but read and update, even going so far as to skip showering and eat meals while reading. However, not all of us are that hardcore, and it’s ok for you to customize this readathon to meet your needs. … All I ask is that you be honest in your updates, and that’s about the only rule for readers.

Updating for Readers: This should be individually customized. If you want to spend 5 or 10 minutes updating each hour or every 3 hours, that’s great. If you want to update whenever you feel like you need a break from reading, that’s great, too. If you want to just read and read for 24 hours straight and then write one big update, that’s also great. You do what works for you, ok?

Suggested format for updating: Again, customize this as you wish, but I suggest updating about what you’re reading, how many pages you’ve read since your last update, and how much time you’ve spent reading since your last update. You may want to keep a running total of time spent reading, number of books read and pages read; this could make you eligible for some prize drawings. Updates might also be your typical book reviews, once you finish something.

I’ll probably do little updates frequently, although I might do several per post so as not to clutter things up too much.

So I’ll see you tomorrow!

This week’s BTT touched on Typography. As usual I went around reading a bunch of the entries, because it’s a fun way to spend a little time while drinking my coffee and you never know what entertaining stories you’ll encounter. This week I was lucky enough to come upon book-a-rama’s entry, which included the following video (NSFW language!) on “the impotence of proofreading”. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Chris, for sharing this with us!

Today’s Booking through Thursday:

You may or may not have seen my post at Punctuality Rules Tuesday, about a book I recently bought that had the actual TITLE misspelled on the spine of the book. A glaring typographical error that really (really!) should have been caught. So, using that as a springboard, today’s question: What’s the worst typographical error you’ve ever found in (or on) a book?

The worst single typographical error is difficult for me to answer, since that would require me to have a better memory than I do. However, I definitely know which book had the worst typographical errors in general! I’ll quote a few pieces of my review here, but feel free to check out the entire Review of Myth, Magic, and Metaphor, a journey into the heart of creativity, by Pat Daly. It’s one of the incredibly rare one-star reviews I’ve ever given out. Here’s a taste of it for you:

Around the time when the author starts talking about mythology and metaphor and symbolism, things get strange. There are comments thrown out that make no kind of logical sense whatsoever, no matter how you look at them. Maybe they made perfect sense in a missing context or with additional information, but as it is they just confuse. If anyone can explain to me what on earth this is supposed to mean, I’ll be very grateful: “The Cherokee Indians have a symbol with a star in the middle. The star has seven points and ends with the number 9!”

This is also about the time when she starts making contradictory statements. For instance, she insists that science and technology require inspiration and creativity to get anywhere (which I agree with), and yet says that the more cognitive society gets, the less creative it gets. These two things seem directly contradictory. She says at one point, “Unlike animals, man had a brain…” Animals don’t have brains? Someone should tell the biologists!

It’s about two-thirds of the way through the book that she starts doing this. There’s even a page on which she repeats the same quote twice in two paragraphs, not to mention a whole bunch of missing, wrong, or weird punctuation marks that confuse the quotes a bit. What, did her editor quit part-way through the book? Or did she just not bother with an editor, and gave up editing it herself part-way through?

Not all of that is typographical—mostly the last part—but you get the idea. Repeating the same quote twice in two paragraphs was one that got me, along with all the odd punctuation. I promise I’m not normally so vicious in my reviews, but this book… this book honestly deserved it.

Edited to add: I almost forgot! My favorite errors, of course, are those that are unintentionally funny, and you tend to get those when someone has trusted their word processor’s spell checker too much. This happened to be the case in a book I finished last night, Nathalie Mallet’s The Princes of the Golden Cage. Really neat premise and plot, but she definitely leaned too hard on the spell-checker. Anyway, the most memorable example of this was the man who “raked” his brain instead of “wracking” it. Ow what a painful image!

…a distinct lack of keeping up with everyone’s blogs and my own reviewing and such this week. I’m trying to make it to my tests on Thursday without having to rush the date to the doctor’s, and it’s taking some trial and error to figure out what I can eat without having serious problems. As it turns out I’m extremely glad I happened to have review copies of Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet and Eat Clean Diet Cookbook—it’s perfect super-low-fat food, which is just right when I’m potentially having gallbladder problems. It’s also surprisingly delicious so far. Most such diet cookbooks are on the bland side for my taste, but so far these aren’t. There’s a parchment-baked fish recipe in there that’s wonderful, despite the fact that white fish isn’t my favorite. There’s also a very simple roasted salmon recipe that’s wonderful.

Along those lines, if you’re having problems with fatty food making you sick, umm, salmon is a REALLY BAD idea. You’d think that’d be obvious, of course. But there I am thinking, salmon’s all healthy, a bit will be fine, right? *groan* Thus ensued much pain and a day of mild fever. (I never claimed to be a rocket scientist, and when I’m tired I’m even worse.) Never got above 99.5 F; if it had broken 100 I probably would have been heading straight for the doctor’s. Anyway, since then I’ve been going back and forth between normal and 99.5, and eating super-low-fat food. We made oat bran bread this weekend from Whole Grain Breads and that was PERFECT.

One thing I find really surprising about all this is how much my body & brain conspire to make me do what’s right. For the most part, with a few exceptions that fool my taste buds (such as the aforementioned salmon), fatty or oily food doesn’t even sound good, much less taste good.

But, I’m also really exhausted through all of this, so I’m getting almost nothing done. I’m sleeping more than anything. I think that’s probably the most frustrating part, as I have a bunch of books I want to read & review, T-shirts to make, a project to work on, gardening I want to do. The cats worry over me, which is really cute. I wake up from a nap sleeping on my side and find one on curled up on my hip and the other on my side.

I am hoping, however, to review Michael Turback’s Mocha tomorrow. I did manage to slip one not-too-fatty last recipe in this weekend (well okay, I also sipped it really slowly and had it in several sittings) and I think we’ve made enough out of the book to review it at this point.

Anyway, none of this is meant to be whining, since gallbladder problems are common and generally not very serious (assuming that’s what’s going on, which seems likely). Partly I’m babbling out of tiredness and partly I wanted to make sure folks weren’t left thinking I’d just abandoned the various things I should be getting done.